PSA executive believes common regulation for gasoline and diesel is in order

PSA Peugeot Citroen’s main engineer in charge of small gasoline engines believes in the near future there would be a single regulation for both gasoline and diesel emissions.

Denis Fourchon, the main engineer in charge of downsized gasoline engines at the second largest European automaker, also said he believes the continent will slowly change its habit of preferring diesel engines as their gasoline counterparts grow to achieve new fuel efficiency standards. Across numerous cities in Europe there is growing sentiment against diesel-powered cars, mainly because of older cars that don’t come with particulate filters – these can drop the rate of such emission to zero. When it comes to other pollutants, the executive says gasoline and diesel engines are coming closer and closer and he envisions as a next step the apparition of fuel-neutral regulation, with the emissions threshold the same for both. PSA has not established a powertrain fuel favorite, aiming to develop them as efficient as possible – Europe still aims for diesel-equipped cars, but other key markets, such as China, mostly favor gasoline.

The executive says in Europe the diesel market share will go down in time, as the latter cost more to purchase and service and their fuel-consumption advantage has narrowed compared to gasoline-equipped cars, meaning they don’t really make sense for the drivers with low-mileage annual averages. In terms of gasoline cars, he says engines can be further developed in relation to variable compression ratios, variable valve lift and hybrid or mild hybrid vehicles. The latter are the very efficient gasoline engines equipped with electrical engine management and start/stop engine technology.